Man hurt in RI nightclub fire gets hand transplant

BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man injured in a 2003 Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed 100 people has received a single hand transplant in Boston.

The Boston Globe reports Monday (http://bo.st/QNS2EW) that Massachusetts General Hospital said in a statement 43-year-old Joe Kinan of Lakeville had the surgery Sunday night.

The hospital said the surgery went smoothly and doctors "are cautiously optimistic" about Kinan's prospects of gaining use of the new hand. The statement said he was awake and resting comfortably Monday.

Kinan was among hundreds seriously injured in the Station club fire in West Warwick when stage pyrotechnics ignited sound insulation foam. He has written on his website that he was hospitalized for nearly a year and had more than 120 surgeries.

Mass. General announced last year it was beginning a hand transplant program.